We’ve all been there as punters.
‘This can’t be beaten.
‘A nailed-on certainty.
‘The banker of all bankers.’
These are all buzz words and phrases that are commonplace in the world of racing punting.
It’s a vote of maximum confidence but nothing can be guaranteed.
Qirat (far left) won the Sussex Stakes at a whopping 150-1 at Glorious Goodwood
Field Of Gold (far right) was a well beaten in a race that bemused pretty much everybody
The rain piles down on the crowd in a dramatic Thursday of the festival at the Sussex Downs
We saw a fair few seismic shocks at the Cheltenham Festival this year.
Galopin Des Champs beaten in the Gold Cup and Majborough suffered the same fate in the Arkle Novices’ Chase.
And not many had Golden Ace on their Champion Hurdle radar this year.
It happens. Much more often than most of us punters think. And small value plays on outsiders are far less expensive losers than going all-in and ultimately having misplaced confidence on the jolly.
Those are the kinds of decisions punters must make. Either that or avoid it all together.
Sometimes we just don’t learn our lessons. Ground, tactics, bad luck and mistakes can all be contributing factors in high-level athletes losing a race or a match. Sometimes they can just flat out underperform on the big day.
That’s what, mainly, happened to Field Of Gold in the Sussex Stakes at ‘Glorious’ Goodwood this week. Sent off a warm 1-3 favourite, Field Of Gold could only manage fourth and lost to 150-1 shot Qirat.
You’d have been forgiven in thinking the winning horse’s name was Pacemaker Qirat. He was there to set the fractions but was given too much rope on the front end and his finishing speed of 107 per cent in the last two furlongs proved that.
Goodwood is one of the most visually impressive racecourses on Earth but the racing fell flat
Only rated 102 pre-race, there was a widespread assumption that Qirat would just come back to the field that contained Rosallion, Henri Matisse and Field Of Gold. The trio were all rated at least 17lb superior than Qirat but market principals were all caught out watching each other.
Rosallion got to within a neck but Qirat managed to hold on. It was steal of the century stuff from Juddmonte’s second string who was there to set the fractions, a pace that probably wasn’t strong enough for Field Of Gold in the end.
But trainers of Field Of Gold John and Thady Gosden revealed that the favourite was lame behind and he certainly didn’t travel or pick up with any urgency like he did in his previous four races this season. The trainer was also quick to note that he became unbalanced around the bend.
There will be other days for Field Of Gold and perhaps the next port of call will be a step up to 10 furlongs for the Juddmonte International Stakes at York.
In truth, you could be forgiven for dubbing ‘Glorious’ Goodwood as ‘Inglorious’ Goodwood at times. Thursday’s feature being run over a flag start was nothing short of embarrassing.
Challenging conditions or not with lightning in the area, the Nassau Stakes really ought to have been delayed until the lightning was cleared to use the stalls or simply postponed until the Friday.
Perhaps the ITV scheduling factor forced the hand of Goodwood but a flag start for a Group One isn’t just unsatisfactory as most have labelled it, it is unacceptable mickey mouse stuff. And if it’s going to happen at least try to start the field in some semblance of a line.
What added insult to injury was Whirl was given a good six lengths at the start by being the only horse galloping into the start as main market rivals in the five-runner race Bedtime Story and See The Fire blew it by comparison.
Whirl made all to win the Nassau Stakes which controversially started under the flag
It was all over inside 10 seconds as jockey Ryan Moore admitted after the race. Whirl was going to dictate – and probably win – anyway but this was essentially a gift-wrapped Group One in a monsoon with her market rivals being minded out the back for future targets in York and France, respectively.
It’s weather that Goodwood isn’t alien to after the last three races in 2023’s final day were called off and Here Comes When floored Ribchester in the Sussex Stakes in similar biblically wet conditions in 2017.
The ground was then changed to heavy on a whim after the Nassau Stakes when times said it was soft, an error the clerk of the course admitted to.
Then there was a seven-yard strip of fresh ground introduced on Friday that if you were further than three horses off the rail then you couldn’t win.
Every horse that won that day was well positioned on the inside in the closing stages, the winner of the King George feature was berthed in stall one.
And let’s not forget the good few horses, Noble Champion springs to mind in the Lennox Stakes, that lost their action on the watered good ground in the first couple of days of the festival when the main story was a deeply upsetting one in the loss of wonderful veteran stayer Trueshan, who trainer Alan King paid an emotional, moving tribute to.
Look, fatal fractures can happen anywhere and nobody was to blame but it was an upsetting sight and left a dark cloud hanging over the rest of the meeting that, generally speaking, was wholly inadequate in tricky conditions.
Scandinavia (left) won a Goodwood Cup that was sadly marred by the death of Trueshan
Seeing decent times despite horses regularly kicking the top off the ground is just visually odd. It happened at Newmarket’s July meeting as well. The going was given as good to firm but all the winning times were outside standard. Punters have little chance and no wonder liquidity is markedly down. Who can genuinely bet with confidence on this?
We have all the data in the world in relations to times, sectionals, finishing speeds and stride patterns yet ground descriptions seem stuck in the dark ages. Why? It needs to improve.
Conditions were tough at Goodwood and the bosses did well to largely keep the show on the road. But, overall, this week will mostly be remembered for that biblical storm rather than any racing and that’s not what you want for a major summer racing festival that lasts five days. The races after the features were also fairly substandard.
Goodwood was more of a grind than glorious this year, sadly.
LORD ALLEN STEPS UP… NOW RACING MUST FIGHT ITS CORNER IN THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
D-Day arrived and past by with minimal fuss in the end. Lord Charles Allen decided to take up his post as the chairman of the British Horseracing Authority this week.
Hopefully, this can provide British racing with the leadership it desperately craves as the fight to ‘Axe The Racing Tax’ seeps deeper into the British political consciousness.
Reform Leader Nigel Farage voiced his support in axing the tax that would see betting on racing align with gaming and casino products from 15 per cent to 21.
Reform Leader Nigel Farage at Goodwood this week and backed the ‘Axe The Racing Tax’ bid
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is also on board but, the last time I checked, it’s Labour who are in power and it’s people within government that racing must persuade.
The BHA have already said a tax would cost the sport up to £66million a year. More independent number crunching has spelt out further dangers to the sport this week if the Treasury press ahead with their plans.
This included the revelation that 2,752 jobs are at risk following proposed tax hikes, according to new independent research. It could see industry suffer at least £330m revenue loss in first five years – risking the future of this historic sport.
These are devastating numbers and represent a clear and present danger to the future of racing. With Lord Allen, a Labour peer, now in situ, the sport faces a critical few months of lobbying in attempt to stave of this threat. Let’s hope it can succeed. The consequences are unfathomable.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK… With the form of equine performances a shade questionable for most races, OISIN MURPHY served up a reminder of his tremendous talent in the saddle with six winners at Goodwood across the week and he wasn’t even riding on the West Sussex Downs yesterday!
A strike-rate of 1-35 after pleading guilty to drink driving exactly a month ago, a lot were wondering if he needed a break for his own sake after continuing to ride before and after a horrible incident that wasn’t handled very well.
Oisin Murphy won on Seagulls Eleven and delivered a riding masterclass on Friday
Some will simply be unable to forgive Murphy after the most serious misdemeanour on his lengthy charge sheet but his talent is never in question.
Put simply, he gave a tactical masterclass on the Friday of Goodwood when riding a treble and being one of few jockeys alert enough to utilise the fresh strip of ground and control races from the best position.
On idiosyncratic tracks such as Goodwood, good jockeyship is imperative to success and Murphy was the best of the bunch all week.